Let’s think big. Really big. Massively big in fact - because it is only when we do that we can hope to change the world, and the world is crying out for change. When the geeks with white coats and fancy calculators start spilling out doom prophecies of climate change, the destruction of the arctic, increased intensity of tsunamis and hurricanes, the spread of malaria to higher latitudes and the dieback of entire forests in North America, it becomes time to worry. But what does this have to do with us architects and designers who seem so far removed from the forces of the natural world? A whole lot apparently, according to Bruce Mau of Bruce Mau Designs and the pioneer of “Massive Change”—the project and philosophy which has shifted the paradigm of design from a static, end of the line solution to a dynamic, ever-evolving, ever-changing force. 

Consider this:

If we were to condense the entire, 4.5 billion years of the Earth’s history into a single year, here is how it would play out. On the first of January at time 00:00:00, the Earth is a molten mass. It takes a month for the Earth to cool sufficiently for rocks to form. It then takes another month for the oceans to accumulate, to set up the hydrologic cycle and for the interactions between the acidic atmosphere and the basic lithosphere to neutralize the environment. On the first of March, we witness the appearance of primitive, single-celled life forms although at this point, there is no oxygen in the atmosphere. From March to May, primitive plants create sufficient amounts of oxygen in the atmosphere to allow for the formation of the ozone layer. On the first of June, we enter the Precambrian (pre-life) era; half of the Earth’s lifetime has passed by at this point. In August, we shift into the Cambrian era. Moving through September, October, November and into December, we slide through the age of fishes, carboniferous land plants, amphibians, insects, reptiles and birds. On the 19th of December, the dinosaurs go extinct; 97% of the Earth’s history has also passed by at this point. Humans appear on the 31st of December at 8:00 pm. The Common Era begins at 11:46:00 pm, 14 minutes to midnight and the Industrial Revolution will start at 11:59:58 pm, 1.2 seconds to midnight!

This means that in the 1.2 seconds since the industrial revolution, we humans have travelled to space and back, constructed megacities of immense scale and developed technologies far beyond any previously imagined capacities. Yet in the process, we have depleted the Earth’s resources and generated pollution and waste on a scale that has never been seen before in its history. The Earth is immense and it carries a long history, yet we humans, while a very recent occurrence have in such a short amount time, created such big changes; so big in fact that it has begun to affect the very chemistry and climate of our planet. The question then that we need to ask at this point is not how we humans could have ravaged the Earth in such a short amount of time but rather how; now that it’s happened, can we fix it?

Massive Change seeks to answer this in no direct way but does provide a working insight into how it can be achieved. Its principle is quite simple. If air, water, fire and earth were the ancient forces of nature which established its order, then let design become a force – one that could restore the order, and change the world.

As a society, we are inevitably surrounded by design whether we realize it or not. From the toothbrush you use to brush your teeth in the morning to the daily stock markets you hear about on the car radio down to the very typography of this article and to the syntax which makes it comprehensible; design is now so commonplace that it has become almost invisible. In order to fully realize the potential of design as a force of change, we must first understand what it is exactly that we are designing and more importantly, why? Do we design to satisfy our own egos? Or has it all been for a more altruistic purpose? And underling all this, how has design affected our society and the world as a whole? When we can clearly articulate these ideas, we can truly begin to understand the potential of design as well as its limitations. With designers like Bruce Mau, answers to these questions have begun to surface and with projects like Massive Change, they are being made more aware amongst the general public.

According to Mau, design is now more widely understood as the human capacity to plan. If this is the case, then we need to start planning big. A bottom-up approach, combined with adaptive management has become one of the most sought-after solutions to current environmental and sustainable planning and if planning is indeed design, then this approach can be applied to everything from the design of products and automobiles to the planning of policies and the global market and to the very houses and buildings that we live and work in. What this approach offers that is different from typical end of line solutions is that everything we design will always be in a constant state of design. That is to say that the fruits of our designs—whether they are buildings, products or policies—can be modified according to changes in the social and physical environments. They become dynamic, not static and are ultimately able to adapt to changing conditions. By this standard, we will no longer design for obsolescence, but for total sustainability. We will not only design for the well-being of our planet but for the endurance of our own spirits and those of our future generations.

Unfortunately, it is not going to take another 1.2 seconds to turn the world back to its pristine state. The same geeks who passed down those doom prophecies also gave us a deadline for action and that deadline is now. Now is the time to think big, to think outside the constraints of human civilization and come to terms with the changes which have taken place on Earth. We designed for ourselves a fast-paced world and in this busyness, we have become unable to see time past our own lifespans. The truth of the matter is that the full effects of global warming will not take place tomorrow, or the next year or even in your lifetime but you can be sure that it will happen if no actions are taken and that it is already happening. As designers, we have the power and responsibility for change. In a world that is governed by design, there is an enormous potential for its greatness and this is something that we must acknowledge and embrace.

While you may not be affected by the climate change in your lifetime, your children will be in theirs and is that not something worth protecting? Let us think beyond ourselves and realize that we designers are responsible for a great deal of what is out there in the world today, many of which we design without understanding the full impacts of its consequences. Let us acknowledge and embrace design as a force of change and accept our role and responsibility as designers and architects for we have the power to change values, to change the way people live and ultimately, to change the world.

For more information on Massive Change, visit www.massivechange.com. For more information on the Deep Time analogy used in this article, visit the Longnow organization at www.longnow.org.